In my life, I've been to dozens of weddings. I've studied the brides and the grooms, the bridesmaids and the groomsmen. I've observed disorganized wedding directors, tongue-tied pastors, and singers who couldn't carry a tune in a bucket. But I admit, the one person I've always overlooked is the person who serves the cake. I've eaten plenty of wedding cake in my time, but I honestly remember no details about who was cutting it and giving it to me.

I now have a newfound respect for that person. Because yesterday I was that person. A good friend of mine-- Barron, whom I met in a summer internship program in Raleigh-- got married yesterday and I was honored to be a cake server at his reception. Had he known the extent of my cake-serving skills he might have chosen differently. :)

It doesn't sound too hard in theory. You cut nice even slices of cake, place them on plates, and then hand them over to the guests with a smile. But then suddenly the bride and groom have come and cut the cake and moved on to other things, and you have dozens of people looking at you hungrily, waiting for you to start giving them cake.

The first task was taking the thing apart. There were lots of flowers and columns involved. The top layer had to be separated and taken back to the kitchen, where it will be frozen and then forgotten by the time the first anniversary actually comes around. The other layers had to be separated so the actual cake cutting could begin. One chocolate cake, one really large yellow cake. Once that was accomplished, the slicing began.

It's surprisingly difficult. The icing kept sticking to the knife, and it was impossible to cut even pieces. I ended up with this big blob of cake in the middle once I had sliced all around the cake. The next layer, the largest layer, was almost impossible. I started out cutting slices, and ended up cutting squares and rectangles and octagons. In the end, it was just a huge pile of cake and icing. None of the slices were pretty-- the cake crumbled (it was moist and very delicious though, which I discovered once I finally had an opportunity to eat a piece), the icing got on everything, and we ran out of plates.

All in all, though, I think it went well. Only one wooden column went missing (and hopefully whoever got it discovered it before they put it in their mouth-- how was I supposed to know there were wooden sticks baked into the cake?). Plus it was nice to be considered part of the wedding party and not be required to buy a really fancy dress that I'll never wear again. I did get a corsage and was escorted into special seating at the beginning of the ceremony. And my name was listed in the program.

So when you get married (if you aren't already), you might want to think twice before asking me to serve cake at your reception. I mean, it went ok this time, but I can make no promises for the future.